'The Hunger Games' Trailer

Here's the first full trailer for the Gary Ross-directed adaptation of The Hunger Games, the first novel in Suzanne Collins' darkly futuristic trilogy of novels about teenagers chosen by lottery to fight to the death as representatives of their local district. Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth are the young leads in the Lionsgate film that could be the studio's answer to Twilight, but hopefully with a harder edge.

Check out the trailer below.

Some of the effects here are still pretty thin-looking, but there are months yet before the film will be released, so we could see another layer of polish applied there. But the core footage looks reasonably convincing, and Jennifer Lawrence is talented enough to sell the movie all on her own. The trailer gets the story setup across quite well, and that moment where the games actually begin is great.

Apple has the trailer in HD. Lionsgate will release The Hunger Games on March 23.

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. THE HUNGER GAMES is directed by Gary Ross, and produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel, the first in a trilogy published by Scholastic that has over 16 million copies in print in the United States alone, has developed a massive global following.